Author : Flowers
Publisher : Jossey-Bass
ISBN 13 : 9780787985455
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (854 download)
Book Synopsis The American Dream and the Economic Myth by : Flowers
Download or read book The American Dream and the Economic Myth written by Flowers and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 2007 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The mythologist Joseph Campbell used to say that you could always tell what the dominant myth of a culture was by looking at its tallest buildings. In medieval times, the tallest buildings in any city were the cathedrals; later, princely palaces and government buildings dominated the landscape; now the tallest buildings are commercial, reflecting the economic myth within which we now live. In the west, and especially in the United States, four myths have shaped us: the religious myth, the hero myth, the democratic/enlightenment myth, and the economic myth. Over time, our culture has often had a double standard for its governing myth: the winners played the hero game, while women, minorities, and "inferiors" were expected to organize their lives around the myth of religion, to behave for the good of society. Today, for the most part, we treat each other not as citizens but as consumers. In truth, if we do not understand the limitations and deeper opportunities of the economic myth, we will not be able to deal with the difficult challenges that face the global community. More than ever, the ideals of responsibility, community, and the common good are absolutely necessary for the health of the civic spirit. In a society that devalues sources, we're still learning how to tell our cultural story through the lens of ordinary men and women and not just through the biographies of great men. Yet, we don't have one story about who we are anymore, so how can we articulate a common good? How do we make a new myth? The first thing to understand is that we can't simply make them. They arise out of what is there. We can't hold up a myth of community and wait for it to take hold. We have to work within our own myth, however impoverished it seems to us. To deepen the American Dream is to engage the imagination-to create better stories of who we are and who we might become. And to create deeper stories requires us to look closely at the stories we already inhabit, both individually and collectively." -Betty Sue Flowers, from The American Dream and the Economic Myth The Fetzer Institute's project on Deepening the American Dream began in 1999 to explore the relationship between the inner life of spirit and the outer life of service. Through commissioned essays and in dialogue with such writers as Huston Smith, Jacob Needleman, Gerald May, Cynthia Bourgeault, Kathleen Norris, Robert Inchausti, Carolyn Brown, Elaine Pagels, Parker Palmer, and others, the project is beginning to sow the seeds of a national conversation. With the publication of these essays, the thinking and writing coming from these gatherings is being offered in a series of publications sponsored by Fetzer Institute in partnership with Jossey-Bass. The essays and individual volumes and anthologies to be published will explore and describe the many ways, as individuals and communities and nations, that we can illuminate and inhabit the essential qualities of the global citizen who seeks to live with the authenticity and grace demanded by our times.
